Tale of the Tape
Good evening, folks. Thankfully, this week is in the books. Pour yourself a cold one and lift your glass in gratitude for what we have.
Stocks ripped today, capping one of the most volatile weeks in the history of markets. The S&P 500 rose 9% on the day and closed near its highs, making back almost all of yesterday’s losses. Epic whipsaw.
For the week, the S&P 500 lost 9%.
We ramped 6% in the last half hour, while President Trump was speaking. He declared a national state of emergency and, perhaps, his comments were enough to allay the anxiety he seemed to spur during Wednesday night’s press conference.
Financials were the top performing sector, roaring back to life with a 12.5% gain on the day as treasuries yields gained 10 basis points to .95%. Tech was also a beast rising 12%.
Gold and bitcoin got smoked (see more below).
| S&P 500 | 2,711 | +9.29% |
| Nasdaq | 7,874 | +9.35% |
| Russell 2000 | 1,210 | +7.77% |
| Dow Jones | 23,185 | +9.36% |
The End of an Historic Week
Ryan Detrick shared this on Twitter. Wow.
We just had the first week since November 1929 where every single day of the week saw the S&P 500 close either up or down 4%.
Teladoc Health
Teledoc ($TDOC) ripped higher from 111 to 140 in all of 4 minutes on the president’s comments surrounding telehealth as a response to the coronavirus. This occured around 3:34 ET and the stock was subsequently halted.
Teledoc is a virtual healthcare company that provides telehealth and medical opinions. It seems like they might have quite the opportunity here, if the trend changes occuring due to the virus result in a permanent shift in how citizens access healthcare.
The stock reopened minutes later and faded to close 7.7% higher on the day at 127.95. $TDOC is up almost 50% YTD, bucking this beast of a bear market so far.
Worldwide 🌎🌏
Markets around the world took a beating this week. Here’s a breakdown of the country ETFs performance for the last 5 sessions. Colombia -31%… Ay dios mio.
Gold, Not So Hot
Gold is typically referred to as a “safe haven” asset when equity markets are moving lower. In this most recent move, gold has held up relative to the S&P 500. This week, though, gold futures closed down nearly 8.8%.
J.C. Parets aka Allstarcharts refers to gold not as a “safe haven”, but a “source of funds.” Something to keep in mind.
Gold Miners ETF
Speaking of Gold… Vaneck Vectors Gold Miners ETF, $GDX, was down 35.5% this week. This was the worst week in the ETFs history.
Miners tend to lead the way up early in the cycle and lead the way down as the cycle matures. What this move means in the bigger picture, we have no idea.
Check out the chart of this hideous thing:
Bitcoin Got Kicked in the Ding Ding
Quick update here. Bitcoin got crushed, falling 37% over the last 2 days. Here’s a chart showing the recent carnage.
Jack Ma is Hooking it Up
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, pledged to donate 1 million face masks and 500,000 tests to the United States. We appreciate your generosity sir, thank you.
Here’s Business Insider with more.
Links that Don’t Suck
Panic With Friends – A Chat With Brian Norgard
Phil Pearlman and Jeff Macke Talk Retail and this Volatile Environment
Late-Night Shows From New York Will Go Dark Next Week
3 Things I Learned from the Coronavirus Crash
